Mick Foley Talked Vince McMahon Out Of Taking Dumpster Bump
Mick Foley has told a funny story about how he had to talk Vince McMahon out of taking a dangerous bump that took place on Monday Night Raw in the Attitude Era.
When Mick Foley debuted in WWE in 1996, he came in with a reputation as a man that wasn’t afraid to put his body on the line to entertain the fans. Foley was known for taking big bumps in matches and segments as his way of earning the respect of the fans.
In early 1998, Mick Foley was wrestling as Mankind most of the time but had also developed his Cactus Jack and Dude Love personas in WWE at that time. Foley teamed with Terry Funk as Chainsaw Charlie at times, but they were also opponents as well.
On the February 2nd, 1998 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw, the first match of the show saw Mick Foley wrestling as Cactus Jack against Chainshaw Charlie. The fight they were having took them to the stage where a dumpster was part of the match. Foley jumped off the set onto Charlie in the dumpster.
Shortly after Jack jumped into the dumpster, the New Age Outlaw team of “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn and “Road Dogg” Jesse James tied the lid shut and shoved the dumpster off the ramp onto the ground below. It was a brutal bump that looked painful for anybody to take.
Mick Foley talked about the dumpster incident during the latest Foley is Pod episode covering No Way Out 1998. Foley noted that as they prepared for the infamous dumpster bump, he had to talk Vince McMahon out of doing the bump earlier in the day.
“Vince McMahon had to be talked out of taking a dumpster bump earlier in the day. He wanted to do it himself [laughs]. I was like, ‘Vince, you own and run this company. We don’t know what’s going to happen. What happens if you’re badly hurt?”
Foley would go on to imitate what McMahon said to him.
“‘I would never want any of you to do something that I wouldn’t be willing to do.’ Then I pulled him over to the side. I was like, Vince, it’s my gimmick, right? You’re gonna kill my gimmick if you’re taking the same bumps I’m taking.”
As he continued, Mick Foley recalled the story about how in 2020 at WrestleMania 36 in the WWE Performance Center, Vince McMahon did a bump off a platform to show former NFLer Rob Gronkowski how to do it.
“So he did not take the bump, but in the same way that he took some bump that Gronk was a little concerned about taking [at WrestleMania 36] and he just boom went and did it. Now, if you’re Gronk, you’re like, ‘I saw a guy in his 60s…’ he may have been in his early 70s at that time. So, Gronk went ahead and did it. This was Vince wanting to do it. I’m glad he didn’t.”
For clarification, Vince McMahon was 74 years old when he showed Gronk how to do that bump at WrestleMania 36.